This is my 2nd time
racing Mt Hamilton RR. It’s a great race
for training. You get climbing, flats, and
descending all in one race! Last year I
got dropped on the 1st climb.
This year I was planning on staying with the lead group for as long as I
could, and then find a group to stay with.
I didn’t want to be left alone after the climb.
The race starts off fast. We were climbing fast up the first
climb. I am not sure if this hurt my
time climbing Mt Hamilton or not. I
basically stayed at my max and beyond for the first 20 min. I fell off the lead group about ¾ of the way
from the top of the 1st climb.
That’s farther than last year, but expected to hang on for longer. I just didn’t have that kind of power to last
for this entire race. I was on my own
until 3 guys caught up with me. The 4 of
us worked with each other up Mt Hamilton.
I got dropped from those guys 1 mile from the top. I PR’ed the Mt Hamilton climb (1:30:00 2013
and 1:32:27 2012). I descended on my own
until a BBC guy caught up with me right before the Neutral Feed Zone. We agreed to work with each other and try and
catch any others that got popped off the back.
We worked well and each took 1 min pulls. We caught a Team Oakland guy that I was
climbing with up Hamilton. The 3 of us
worked together until the final climb out of Mines Rd. Team Oakland guy dropped off the back of us,
and then the BBC guy attached himself onto the back of a 45+4 guy. With a few miles to go some 45 + guys caught
me and that motivated me to keep them in sight till the finish.
Overall I am please with
knocking some time off the race course and Mt Hamilton. My main focus is
climbing Mt Diablo in October at the Diablo Challenge. I want a sub 54 min this year. I know that I am choosing some of the
toughest races to compete in. Taking my
licks now and hoping to keep progressing as a racer. This is all a work in
progress. I used 3 bottles for the
race. I started off with one bottle to
be lighter up Mt Hamilton, and I picked up water at the neutral zone and a
bottle at the feed zone.
My next
race is Pescadero RR June 2!
Thanks
to SJBC!
Thanks
to those at the Neutral Feed Zone!
Thanks
to my Teammates!
Thanks
for reading!